GOP Senators Filled the 2016 Debate Stage. Not This Time – By Steven T. Dennis and Laura Litvan (Bloomberg) / Feb 16, 2023
(Bloomberg) — Family time. Desire to reshape the party. Attachment to the US Senate. These are the reasons ambitious but low-polling Republican senators cite for avoiding a toe-to-toe contest with former President Donald Trump to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee.
Tim Scott of South Carolina is the only Republican senator sending signals he’s weighing a White House run. He’s a proven fundraiser, is traveling to early primary states and sharing his against-the-odds success story. Even so, he’s polling at about 1%, according to a Morning Consult poll out this week.
Senators have long struggled to cut direct paths for themselves to the White House, and only Barack Obama has succeeded in the last 60 years. But that hasn’t stopped others from trying.
In 2016, the long GOP roster included four sitting senators, dividing the party and helping Trump ultimately win the nomination. President Joe Biden, a senator before becoming Obama’s vice president in 2009, ran against a field of Senate Democrats in 2020, but none rose to the top.
